


Your Rhodey

by Dewsparkle



Series: Little Stories of the Avenging Kind [14]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Dissasociating from reality, Gen, Google Translate Itallian, How Do I Tag, Hurt Tony Stark, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, Injury Recovery, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Mental Health Issues, Mentally retreating inwards to cope, Not A Fix-It, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Harley, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Rhodey is the best bro, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, not team Cap friendly, too tired to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 20:51:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14197452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dewsparkle/pseuds/Dewsparkle
Summary: After Siberia, its been up to Rhodey to help his best friend when the genius is unable to cope and to help him heal from the damage Rogers did to both his body and mind. It's Rhodey who pulls Tony back into reality and he intends to keep it that way, but the returning Exvengers are ruining all his hard work to help his best friend, his family, heal.





	Your Rhodey

**Author's Note:**

> Hi? Sorry its been so long since I posted anything. Life has been a doozy lately. In the past months, I've graduated from grade 12, took a trip from late November to early January around Europe (Germany and Pompeii, HIGHLY recommend. The castles and ruins and just-! so beautiful. :) ), and I've recently started my first year of university as a full-time student on top of a pre-existing part-time job. 
> 
> So now that excuses are out of the way, here's a story I've been writing since... July last year and only finished about a month ago I believe. For those waiting for updates on my other stories, I sincerely apologise, but don't worry, they aren't abandoned! Just on a bit of a hold right now while I find time to write in between Uni stuff. Who knew teachers needed to know so much about brain development and what amounts to manipulating children into learning the thing?
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this thing I wrote. Really just felt like doing a bit of a Rhodey and Tony dynamic focus for once, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Some things are a bit meh for me, I had trouble figuring out how to end it, but I think it's okay. As always, all comments are welcome! Any mistakes you find, even if they're tiny or simply a typo, don't hesitate to let me know!

It had been nearly three months by the time Tony woke up from his coma after being recovered from Siberia, before he fell back in another from stressing his heart and still healing ribcage from when it had been shattered. Another two months later, he woke again and began to improve. He was hospitalized for another month before he was released to return home.

Rhodey was deeply worried. The first time, Tony had had a severe panic attack once he was conscious enough to remember what had happened. He’d been delirious still, and had cried and screamed bloody murder that Steve was going to kill him, was going to let his friend kill him like he did his parents, before he’d slipped back into another coma.

Rhodey had been furious.

He’d had his suspicions when they’d finally recovered Tony from the abandoned HYDRA base in Siberia- thank everything that it was abandoned or Tony and the suit would have been easy pickings. The only reason Tony hadn’t died permanently was the fact that his injuries and the freezing temperatures had caused him to pass out quickly, thus preventing the adrenalin from wearing off and causing him to panic and puncture both his lungs, or from going into shock before help could arrive in time.

By the time they’d reached him, he’d been dead for nine minutes. One lung had collapsed and the other followed in suit on the evacuation jet they loaded him into at top speed to the nearest hospital after they’d managed to resuscitate him.

He’d flatlined three times on the operating table, already having had a weak heart after the arc reactor’s insertion, subsequent heavy metal poisoning and then its removal, recent events non-withstanding, each time taking longer to restart his heart. The damage to his chest was so severe they’d had to inject him with a high dosage of Tony’s modified (and safe to use) version of Extremis so he wouldn’t _die again._ That dose when the reactor had been removed was probably the only reason he’d initially survived long enough they were able to revive him in Siberia, despite how little they’d used during the surgery.

Rhodey had wondered, sometimes, in the long nights at his best friends’ bedside, whether Tony had not wanted to come back. Then, he wondered, and felt worse, because Tony had never wanted to become a superhuman. The only blessing was that it was the modified version he’d had during the arc removal surgery. Then, he’d only slightly advanced his healing. Now, he had a healing factor much better than Rogers’ and he was a bit stronger than he was as well, among other enhancements that result from the serums use. They weren’t sure how much stronger, as Tony wasn’t in the right mental state to be testing those sorts of things right now.

Tony hadn’t spoken a single word since he’d woken up the second time. Silence and Tony were not two words that Rhodey had ever come to associate with his best friend. After everything he’d been through, he’d always bounced right back.

Oh, Rhodey knew that he never came out unscathed, he wasn’t ignorant like the majority of people in Tony’s life. He knew Tony had been developing various mental issues and ticks from a young age, and every blow added to the pile and increased the potency of the ones already present, often removing any progress he’d made on them since the last incident.

Rhodey wheeled himself over to his friend, who was sitting on the couch, half curled into the corner and staring blankly at the wall, as he had been wont to do since his return. He still had the cast and brace on his torso to restrict his movement and prevent the plates and pins, artificial and regrown bones from shifting and healing wrong, despite Extremis, they were being cautious and taking the healing one step at a time rather than risk all at once and something going wrong in the healing process caused by Extremis. They really didn’t want to take any chances with his health even if Extremis appeared to have healed him well with no further complications.

He’d had multiple treatments in the Cradle, but even it could only do so much with the extensive damage caused by blunt force trauma, hence the need for a higher Extremis dosage. The rest Tony would have to do on his own with the help of his new healing factor.

“Hey Tones,” He greets as he settles his chair parallel to the couch, flicking on the brakes. With practiced effort, he levers himself off the chair and flops onto the soft cushion beside his best friend who still hasn’t seemed to acknowledge the person next to him.

Rhodey’s heart gave a sharp twinge, as it did every time and every day Tony was trapped in his head and seemingly unaware of what was happening around him. Wrapping an arm around Tony’s shoulders, he pulls the man close, who follows limply without protest and lets Rhodey rest his chin on his dark chocolatey coloured hair. Rhodey sighs and presses a kiss to the top of Tony’s head.

“Come on Tones, talk to me. I don’t know what happened, but I can guess. I’ve had FRIDAY looking for anything from the base, and she’s sifting through the corrupted footage from the suit, but we’ll get it eventually.”

There’s no response, but Rhodey wasn’t really expecting one.

“Do you wanna head down to the shop? It’s been a while and the bots miss you. They haven’t seen you in a long time. Do you know what Dummy did to the lab? He coated it in foam to try and lure you down there while you were in hospital. I’m sure I told you this at the time but-“

Rhodey stops speaking when he suddenly feels Tony shift under him. His head turns and buries itself in Rhodey’s chest, a hand coming up and gripping weakly at his shirt. Rhodey’s heart flutters with hope. He pulls Tony closer and squeezes him in a hug.

“Come on, you know what the bots are like, you made them. It’s no wonder they’re little shits half the time.” He grins and it grows wider when he hears a sharp exhale from Tony that could be a small snort of amusement. “Yeah, I thought so. Not even trying to deny it, ‘cause you know I’m right about these things.” Tony gives a tiny, almost non-existent shake of his head and Rhodey is so happy he could burst because Tony is _responding_.

“Ah ah ah! Too late now, Tones. You lost that chance. You’re a little shit and all your little bot kids are little shits as well. But guess what? I love you all anyway. I’ve put up with you since you were only a fifteen-year-old little shit at MIT, and you’re what? Sixty now? I ain’t gonna stop now, it’s like my job at this point.”

Tony snorts again, this time slightly indignant at the comment to his age and Rhodey just can’t stop grinning. He blows on Tony’s hair just to be annoying and gives his arm a squeeze around Tony’s shoulders. “Alright, alright. I’m just teasing, I know you’re not sixty, I was kidding.”

They sit like that for what Rhodey thinks might be another hour, before Vision wanders in through the wall and informs them that dinner is ready and Rhodey is forced to lift Tony off of him. Tony had become unresponsive again and simply watches blankly as Rhodey gets back in his chair.

A week later, Rhodey come’s home from his PT and can’t find Tony anywhere. FRIDAY helpfully informs him that the billionaire has been in the lab since an hour after Rhodey left that morning.

Its three days later of having not seen Tony at all that he emerges from his lab, deep bruises under his eyes from lack of sleep and a fine trembling in his hands as further proof of his exhaustion. He stumbles over and carefully drops something in front of him before collapsing back onto the sofa and passing out.

The next day, Rhodey is using the bed post and wall to support him as he stands with his new leg braces for the first time and he cries. He cries because he’s going to walk again and he cries because Tony did this for him, because Tony _made_ something again. Because Tony, lost in his own mind, managed to cure him, in a way, of paralysis in three days. Because it is such a _Tony_ thing to do.

Things steadily start getting better after that. Tony responds more and more, sometimes he looks at you in the eye, sometimes he shifts towards you as you speak, to let you know he’s listening. Sometimes he’ll walk over and sit down beside Rhodey and lean against him. Sometimes Rhodey wakes up in the middle of the night to find Tony crawling into bed next to him like he used to at MIT after his parents died or when he was having a particularly hard night sleeping and just needed a friend close to him.

Then he begins to talk again, voice croaking and rusty from disuse and it’s a breathy, stilted sort of speech. Mostly one-word requests or answers. His voice slowly gets better and the cast comes off a month later, leaving only a brace and strict instructions not to strain himself for at least another two months as a precaution.

They spent Christmas alone with just the three of them and watch some cooking show Vision managed to become a contestant on, then they watch bad horror movies and eat junk food, falling asleep on the couch and wake up to find Vision had come home and put them to bed as he’d done many times before in the past few months.

Its August and over a year and a half has gone by since the supposed Team Captain America became wanted criminals. FRIDAY had eventually recovered the footage from Siberia sometime in the interim and Rhodey had nearly broken his hand punching the wall in fury.

How _dare_ he! How dare he beat his friend to the brink of death after lying to his face about something like that. How dare he then leave him defenceless in hostile territory! Where he _died_ for a full _nine minutes_ before help could arrive to save him _._ While Rhodey was useless in a hospital bed because he’d lost the use of his legs.

Tony had been looking at him worriedly ever since then, until Rhodey finally broke and pulls his best friend into a fierce hug, apologising over and over for letting it happen. Tony had withdrawn a little after that, but Rhodey managed to convince him to talk him through what happened and Rhodey couldn’t have missed the relief in Tony’s eyes as he’d finally been able to talk to someone who understood what had happened on his end.

That was a month ago. The wounds were healing, though still red and raw, but now Rhodey knew they were going to be torn back open again. The Avengers had grown massively since Rogers’ team left and they worked better as a team then the original Avengers ever had. Carol Danvers and Rhodey were the leaders and Tony was Rhodey’s second, despite the mans protests, Rhodey knew he was secretly pleased that Rhodey would trust him to be his second.

The Ex-Avengers were being brought back to the compound. Some people of power had been fighting to get them back for a long time and it seems they’d finally done it. They weren’t forgiven, and they had to sign the Accords that Tony and Rhodey, as well as any powered person who wanted a say, had been working to revise since the original draft that had been shown to the UN. And by ‘original draft’, that meant the final draft of many versions of the document that had been in development for a number of years. It was the first draft of the document to be presented as a potential for a new law.

As predicted, Tony had not taken the news well. He’d gone unresponsive much like he had after Siberia and it had taken four hours to coax him back out into a state where he could semi-communicate with him.

Tony, the damn generous man he was, seemed to see no reason to refuse them lodgings at the compound like he gave all the other people on the team if they wanted or needed it at any time. They would still be given accesses to certain areas like any other and would have to earn their clearance to anything more than the communal areas, debriefing rooms and their personal quarters. They wouldn’t be anywhere near Tony’s living space or workshop, nor would they be near Vision, Rhodey or Spider-kid because Tony was adamant that he wanted them safe and as far away from them as possible. The other members had a better means to defend themselves if something went wrong, and Tony wanted to make sure those closest to him were safe.

Vision and Peter agreed easily enough to move rooms, and Rhodey was already living there anyway. They both understood why Tony wanted to move them, especially having been there through the first few months where they could barely get him to acknowledge their presence in the room let alone speak to them. It was easier for everyone to comply with Tony’s increased paranoia for his loved ones’ safety after his latest betrayal, and it wasn’t like it was an unjustified paranoia anyway. Rhodey had been having his own thoughts of moving at least the kid for his own safety, and Peter was hardly going to object to having his own room practically ‘down the hall’ from his hero.

When the Ex-Avengers arrive, they walk into the compound like nothing was ever wrong. Rhodey wheels himself over and greets them coolly with Carol, explaining the new way of things. They frown at the fact the Rogers isn’t the team leader anymore and voice protests at this fact and their new probation restrictions. All in all, they grumble and growl, huff and puff and act like moody toddlers being denied something in the toy isle, but eventually they agree to the new way of things. Mostly, at least. Rhodey knew that they were going to start pushing and breaking rules soon enough.

Once they’re done, an Accords and UN representative come forward with a lawyer to explain the revised Accords. If that lawyer just so happens to be Matt Murdock, well, no-one has to know the significance just yet.

Its highly entertaining to see them look at the blind man and then at everyone else like they’re wondering if this was some sort of joke. _A blind man can’t be a lawyer! He can’t see or read anything!_ Their faces seem to say, and Rogers gets this little frown as he looks at Matt, then the other occupants of the room like he was expecting someone else to be there. Rhodey only just manages to smother his grin in his hand before they see it, almost missing Rogers’ look around.

Rhodey watches on with barely concealed fury at the end of the meeting as Rogers smiles, turns to him, and asks him to thank Tony for fixing the Accords and making them more acceptable for them. Rhodey ignores the pointed displeasure from the group that they still exist in the first place.

Rhodey seethes because the Accords have barely changed. They are almost exactly the same as when they’d first been presented nearly two years ago. Tony had created stipulations for those underage like Spiderman or those who didn’t want to do anything but protect certain areas, much like Daredevil and Luke Cage, or continue on with their lives and use their powers for their job if required like Jessica Jones. Spiderman, under the Accords, was given a contract that allowed him to work with the police and continue to help look after the small things, for example, because he was underage. Hell, they even managed to help out Frank Castle, aka the Punisher as long as he didn’t go around killing people and served his own type of probation period to help him mentally cope with what had been done to him. He was more stable now, and more than happy to go after the bad guys he was directed towards.

They had the choice whether or not to give up their real names as long as they adhered to the Accords and stayed within their selected area or agreed upon usage for their abilities. If they wanted to leave their areas or operate in another country, then that was when identities were a requirement.

For example, if there was say, a guy that was superhumanly strong and wanted to be able to freely use his ability at work, as a construction worker, then he had every right to do so under a section of the Accords, so long as he made sure to meet health and safety regulations and not attempt to do more then he could handle, which was much the same concept as with active “heroes”.

An example of taking on more than one could handle would be one Wanda Maximoff and the many cases before the Accords were finished drafting where someone got hurt because she overestimated herself due to lack of training and testing of the extent of her abilities.

There were a few other things that were added and refined, but overall, the Accords had not changed and all Rogers had shown was proof that he’d never read and understood the original draft, and that they were needed. And how could he? He walked out on the meeting where Tony was going to sit down and explain it all to them, and then everyone but Vision and Rhodey himself had followed suit and left. Tony had needed to explain a lot of it to him, as he couldn’t read legalese like the billionaire could.

Rhodey swallows his rage as best he can because at the end of the day, they’ve signed the documents and are finally going to be held responsible for their actions next time they decide to be above the law.

It’s as Rhodey is wheeling himself out of the room, having been a bit spiteful in wanting them to be reminded that he was paralysed because of them, that Rogers manages to catch him alone.

“Colonel Rhodes, wait!” And Rhodey doesn’t really have much choice while in the chair and Rogers quickly steps in front of him, effectively blocking his path and exit. How often had he done the same thing to Tony? Using his height and bulk to force the other man to stay where he wanted him to be and blocking his exits while he reprimanded Tony over not following orders, even when said orders would have gotten someone killed as collateral damage and Tony had seen a safer alternative. Rhodey had seen recordings of battles, and Tony had always informed the rest of the team what he was doing when he had time.

Rhodey was air-force, and even he knew that sometimes your CO made mistakes or didn’t see something you did. Rhodey had defied orders or instructions on the field before because he’d seen a route that was better, and had taken it while explaining what he was dong instead. In fact, his last CO had praised the efficient communication and perceptiveness he’d demonstrated, and it wasn’t as if he was always doing this all the time, which would be a cause for concern with his ability to do what he was told by his superiors.

But, that wasn’t to say to never listen to your chain of command, it was important to listen to the chain and follow it. There was a huge difference between seeing a safer or more effective alternative while on the field, making a quick decision that saved someone’s life or completed the mission, and deliberately disobeying direct orders through planning while off the field and going AWOL. _Cough_ , someone like Rogers for instance, **_cough_.**

Rhodey gazes at him coolly, already having a terrible inkling as to where this conversation is going to end up. He remembers the letter, and how it had sent Tony spiralling back into his catatonic state after only just starting to come out of his shell. “Make it quick, Rogers, I have places to be.”

Rogers didn’t seem at all put out by his less than friendly tone or body language- how was this idiot the so-called greatest tactician if he was this unobservant and rigid in his actions and views? How could he be expected to react properly when plans went to shit as plans were wont to do?

“I want to speak to Tony.”

“Doctor Stark.” Rhodey interrupted coolly. How dare this man refer to Tony by his nickname like they were friends after what he did? It might be petty, but Rhodey had been with Tony since the start, he felt justified in his slipping back into Big Brother Mode.

Rogers paused, frowning in confusion. “What?”

“It’s Doctor Stark or Mister Stark, Mr. Rogers.”

Rogers frowned at him and set his jaw in a way that told Rhodey _‘I will argue with you on this_ ’ and Rhodey barely held in a sigh of frustration. Why him?

“Tony hates being called Mister Stark, and since when is he a doctor? They don’t just give those titles out, you know. You have to earn it.”

Rhodey’s eyes narrowed. “And he hasn’t? Mr. Rogers, there is more than one kind of doctor.”

Rogers rolled his eyes and rudely interrupted. “Yes, I know. I was friends with Doctor Banner, if you’ll recall.”

Rhodey forcefully bit back a retort at that. Rogers had walked on eggshells around Bruce and Tony had often talked to him about his worries for the mild-mannered scientist concerning this unwelcoming attitude.

The scientist may need glasses, but he certainly wasn’t blind. He could clearly see none of the other members trusted him not to snap at the littlest thing, except Tony, of course, whom on their first meeting poked him with a shock probe, indicating he didn’t care about the Hulk or was just suicidal and didn’t care about the potential of the Hulk doing him harm.

Rhodey could admit he was wary of the man himself, but he at least knew to trust Tony’s judgment of the man and the information they’d dug up about how the Hulk came to be, and Rhodey worked hard to ignore his apprehension. Bruce and he had even become something close to friends through Tony, and Bruce had even pulled him aside once to thank him for treating him normally despite his fears of an uncontrolled Hulk-out, which the man thought was a perfectly reasonable reaction to him and was there some disconnect somewhere with Tony? No? huh.

“Not all doctors are of medicine or the like. Tony has seven PHD’s, at last count, and has more than earned the title of doctor for his work in engineering and robotics alone. So I would ask that you refer to him as such.”

“Why? Tony’s never wanted us to do that before.”

Rhodey grit his teeth. “It’s a new development to create professionalism.”

Rogers glanced off to the side and the expression on his face told him that he thought Tony was somehow being petty or something, before turning back to Rhodes.

“Either way, I still need to talk to him. I haven’t seen him around yet. I thought he’d want to greet us when we came back.” Did he now?

“Doctor Stark has more important things to attend to.” _Like his mental health_ , Rhodey didn’t say. Rogers frowned in annoyance.

“I need to speak with him about a few things. Can you tell him I want to talk to him? It’s important.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. What do you need to speak to him about?” Rhodey had a pretty good guess, and sure enough…

“It’s personal.” Rogers says shortly, crossing his arms.

“Personal?” Rhodey raises an eyebrow.

“Yes, _personal_.” He repeats curtly, tone indicating he thought that it was none of Rhodey’s business. Well, tough shit, Rhodey thought. After what Rogers did to Tony… Tony was in no state to be confronted with this shit right now. He had slipped back into barely responding at all since they found out the Ex-avengers were coming back.

“Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait. Doctor Stark is very busy-“

“I’m sure he could take the time to speak with me. It’s imp-“

“ _’Important’_ , yes, I know, as you keep telling me. It’s important to _you_ that you see him for this _personal_ reason, but if Tony doesn’t want to talk you, then he doesn’t want to talk to you.” Before Rogers can say anymore, Rhodey wheels forwards, forcing Rogers to step out of his way instinctively and makes his way into the elevator. “I’ll let Tony know, but don’t get your hopes up.”

Rhodey quietly seethes as he makes his way to Tony’s room. The nerve of that asshole, after everything he’s done…

As is usual, Rhodey finds Tony sitting on the sofa, quietly tapping away at his Starkpad. It was one of his better days, and Rhodey was probably going to ruin it.

It takes a moment, but Tony looks up once he realises Rhodey is in the room and smiles. “Hey, honey-bear.”

Scratch that, it was one of his best days. Dammit.

Rhodey smiles and flicks on the brakes to his chair once he’s cleared the entryway, then he disengages the locks on the braces which snap easily into place over his legs, allowing him to stand up with a quiet whir reminiscent of the Ironman armours.

“Hey Tones, how you doing?” Rhodey asks, easily pushing away his anger at the sight of his best friend’s mood.

Tony gives him a grin and motions him over, bouncing on the sofa as he shifts over to make room for him. Rhodey sits so that their shoulders are brushing and leans to look at what Tony’s working on, and is mostly unsurprised to find its his leg braces.

“So, I was thinking, I might be able to find a way to start actually healing your spinal cord so that you could walk again! Or at least stand unassisted, don’t want to get our hopes up too much, but with the cradle we might be able to insert some little nano sensors against your spine that send out signals to get your nerves to start trying to fix themselves.” He babbles, gesturing excitedly at his screen, switching between areas so fast Rhodey has a hard time keeping up.

“Of course I’ll have to talk to Cho about how this’ll work with the Cradle and what it can do but I really think it could work! And even if it doesn’t in your case, it could help someone else. I’ve been refining your braces for the public so that people with dead limbs or partial paralysis would be able to use their limbs again. Rhodey, its going to be a new age for robotics and medicine!” Rhodey continues to listen with interest, smiling fondly as Tony continues to ramble about all the details.

He throws an arm around Tony’s shoulders and Tony leans against back him without protest, still keeping up his steady stream of babble as he works and Rhodey watches. It’s a long time before Tony finally runs out of steam and is content to work quietly on his project.

More times passes and Rhodey suddenly realises that Tony is a lot heavier against him than he was a few minutes ago. A quick glance down determines that Tony has fallen asleep, the arm still loosely gripping his tablet dangling precariously off the edge of the couch.

Chuckling, he leans down to retrieve the tablet and saves Tony’s work before switching it off and setting it aside. Shifting Tony in his arms, he hooks one arm under his knees and lifts him up as he stands, careful not to jostle the sleeping brunet too much before depositing him on the other couch, which is longer and wider, making it more suitable for him to sleep on without waking up to a sore neck or the like.

Snuffling in his sleep, Tony rolls onto his side so he’s facing the back of the sofa and brings his knees up towards his chest a little, a little tell that Rhodey knew from experience meant Tony was cold and had probably had a fight with the blankets and lost them off the side of the bed at some point during the night, but never woke up enough to get it back despite being cold.

Grabbing the red and gold Ironman patterned fleece throw, he drapes it over Tony and shakes his head as hands immediately grab it and pull it tightly around himself. That, Rhodey also knew well. Tony was a fierce blanket thief and no amount of force below lethal could get him to give up the blankets once he had them.

Rhodey very quickly grew used to huddling against Tony for body heat at MIT and he has no shame in admitting it when Tony did and still does the exact same thing all the time. Still, it was a good thing Rhodey ran like a furnace most of the time or he wouldn’t have survived MIT with Tony Stark as his roommate.

It was getting late, so Rhodey decided he’d start on dinner for the two of them. Vision was going to be gone for another week, doing some more filming for that cooking show he was a contestant in, so he wasn’t here to cook for them. But that was fine, like Rhodey said, he survived MIT with Tony Stark as a roommate and they didn’t exactly live off take-out despite what most people would think. And it wasn’t always Rhodey cooking either, Tony was a pretty good cook with most things. He couldn’t do eggs for the life of him and managed to burn water more than once, but he could cook.

Pulling out some flour, salt, eggs and pouring some water into a jug, he set about making some homemade pasta. He was just testing the eggs when he realised they were off and not safe to use. Groaning, he dumped them in the bin and set off to raid Visions kitchen, who despite not needing to eat, always had it well stocked for practice.

It was nearly three quarters of an hour later before he finally got back with a new carton of eggs, having lost track of time while having a brief chat with Stephan about how he was doing, both from a personal and medical point of view, and to voice his concerns about having the Scarlet Witch back in the compound with how volatile and untrained she was, and his own uncertainties about training her in a way that was safe for everyone involved.

Rhodey had, of course, assured him that they would take the proper precautions and do everything they could to keep everyone safe. Stephan had asked if Vision could help and Rhodey had merely said that if worst came to worst Vision now knew that he could subdue Maximoff with the Mind Stone if it ever came to that. She’d caught him off guard the first time, but she wouldn’t be able to do that same trick twice now he knew to guard himself from it.

When Rhodey slipped back into the flat, Tony was still fast asleep, one foot hanging off the side where he lay snuggled under his throw, face relaxed and highlighting his exhaustion. Unfortunately, though, the quiet was just not meant to be, because as Rhodey opened a cupboard to grab a bowl for mixing the dough, they all clattered onto the polished marble noisily. Wincing at the noise, and again when there was a thump from the living room accompanied by a yelp of surprise, Rhodey let out a resigned sigh.

Tony appeared a moment later with his hair all over the place and creases on his cheek from his nap, and began to help Rhodey clean up the dropped items, seemingly unfazed by his abrupt awakening.

“Making pasta, platypus? And you didn’t invite me? Sono ferito, Rhodey! Sono ferito!” He groaned dramatically and Tony tossed him a shit eating grin, knowing full well Rhodey didn’t know much Italian.

He playfully pushed Rhodey aside and tossed his head into the air rather snobbishly. “Lasciare questo ai professionisti, tesoro.” Then, as he started mixing together ingredients, the little shit began to sing something that he knew Rhodey had despised the moment he’d first heard it. “Pasta, pasta, amo la pasta. È un cibo meraviglioso!-“

Rhodey leapt across the space between them to cover Tony’s mouth to make him stop, but Tony just laughed and jumped back, brandishing his flour covered rolling pin like a sword. “Prendimi se puoi, zucchero di prugna!”

What ensued was a daring battle to the death that left them both out of breath and grinning, covered in flour and the odd egg or two they’d thrown. Tony was giggling hysterically because apparently Rhodey now resembled a panda. Grabbing a handful of flour, he snuck up behind the distracted genius, pulled out the back of his shirt and dropped the flour in, causing the man to shriek in alarm while Rhodey cracked up.

“Io vinco!” He crowed smugly, while Tony tried to shake the flour from his back with little success, muttering profanities in Italian, while only managing to coat the back of his pants in even more flour.

“That would be something you knew how to say.” He grumbled, glaring at him without any real heat.

After that, they quickly got back to making the pasta before starting on the meat sauce, singing along, somewhat brokenly on Rhodey’s end, to an Italian song as they cooked. It was nice to be able to do this with Tony again, it had been way too long since they’d simply been able to mess about like this.

And Rhodey was going to have to ruin that soon. He had to tell Tony Rogers wanted to talk to him about something. Not because he thought Tony would actually _want_ to speak to him, but because he knew that if he didn’t give his friend the heads up he might get cornered somewhere and forced into ‘talking’ with the asshole.

Having finished making their dinner, they sat down at the table and ate it with gusto, putting any leftovers back in the fridge for later. When Rhodey finally did tell Tony later that night, it went better than he had hoped. He didn’t shut down, just nodded and told him he would avoid Rogers as much as he could, as he had already been doing. Rhodey heaved a sigh of relief and tugged the shorter man closer from where they were resting on the couch.

\---

Rhodey had headed out for his first treatment in the Cradle to try and restore his spine when Rogers found him. He’d been stupid and not thought to check where everyone was when he ventured out of his apartment in search of someone else to talk to.

He’d been pleasantly daydreaming of having a drink (or five) with Jessica in the common room, complaining about random crap and watching the new series (finally!) of Sherlock together with her because they both seriously (and not so secretly) wanted to tap that and tease Stephan about how alike he and the detective looked if he was around, when instead he found Steve Rogers moodily staring at the TV remote like it had personally ruined his life.

And it wasn’t even Tony’s personal remote- and yes he had his own because no-one else could figure out how to use it. It wasn’t that complicated, he swears its not! Whenever he mentions this, all his traitorous friends just give him this Look that makes him think they want to pat him on the head and say ‘Sure Tony, whatever you say’. Tony sticks to his opinion that everyone else is just incompetent and unable to appreciate a good piece of tech when they saw it and collectively shun it for fear of damaging their pride. Yes, that’s exactly what it is.

And then Rogers looked up, his face morphed from surprise to determination in a split second, he got up and abandoned the poor, innocent remote which broke upon harsh contact with the side of the coffee table, and approached him so quickly Tony’s shock-frozen body didn’t have time to register more than a sincere _‘fuck_ ’ before everything spiralled out of controlled and went to hell in a handbasket so quickly even that speedster kid at Xavier’s school would have gotten whiplash.

And then it began.

“YOU KILLED ME, ROGERS!” Tony finally screams after minutes of bearing Roger’s accusations while desperately trying to think of a quick escape from the situation, and his angry disappointment in his actions and how he was being petty or something. Tony’s voice sounded wrecked even to his own ears as he tries to back away from the blonde who _won’t take the hint_. His breathing is harsh and short, hands visibly shaking and body tense.

Rogers huffs in frustration and barely concealed anger, seemingly oblivious to the neon warning signs Tony is putting off that are reaching further than the Hubble telescope telling him to _back the fuck off_.

“Stop being so dramatic, Tony! It wasn’t that bad-“

“Wasn’t that bad? Wasn’t _that bad_?!” Tony practically shrieks, voice cracking with hysteria, still trying to find a way around Rogers so he can escape the room he’d been trapped in. “ _Nine minutes_ , Rogers. Nine!”

That makes Steve finally pause in his advance, if only in confusion, allowing Tony a little more room to breathe. “What?”

“Nine minutes was how long I’d been dead by the time the rescue team found me. _Nine minutes_. And I coded three times in surgery! Did you know that permanent brain damage can occur within five to ten minutes? The only reason I survived without was because I passed out from pain and hypothermia. The subzero temperature preserved my brain long enough that I could be revived.” Well, that and Extremis, but no way in hell was he going to tell Rogers about that.

“No, Tony, you were fine-“

“ _Shut up and listen to me for once!_ ” He growls, nerves shot. He can’t stop his body from shaking, vibrating, barely supressing the panic attack waiting to happen. He’s not even sure how he’s still functioning, what with his mind just shutting down previously at any sort of reminder at what had happened to him. And of course Rogers would corner him while he was the only one in the compound. Well, the other rouges were probably in their area, but that wasn’t exactly a comfort to him in his current situation.

“I was in a coma for months and when I finally woke up, they’d done all they could and had to _change me_ because _I was still dying_ when you crushed my chest!” He was panting harshly and voice still barely tinging on hysteria from self-control that came out of bloody nowhere. Shit, he hadn’t meant to say that much. _Shit_.

“I didn’t! I only wanted to disable the suit-“

“Well congratulations, you did! But what everyone seems to forget is that I’m in the suit! And you knew, Steve! You knew my chest was weak from the reactor! You knew my sternum couldn’t take as much force as a normal persons could after it was removed. My lung collapsed, and then the other on the way to the hospital, because as soon as they shifted me onto the stretcher my ribs shifted because _you broke all of them_.”

He’s breathing heavily and he really hopes someone comes back soon, because his vision is grey at the edges with how little he’s breathing. Rogers looks horrified, like it had never before occurred to him that slamming a vibranium shield into someone’s chest with the full strength of a supersolider could do serious damage.

“Tony, I didn’t mean to hurt you. You were going to kill Bucky!”

He laughs, a broken, humourless sound, and hopes it doesn’t sound too breathless. “And it’s all about Bucky fucking Barnes, isn’t it? I came there to help and you _lied_ to my _face_ about doing exactly that for years.”

“It wasn’t his fault! It was Hydra-“

“Of course I know that, Rogers! But do you know why I lost it? The video was one thing, but you want to know what the real icing on the cake was? You betrayed me. You lied to me for _years,_ like fucking Stane. You’re always preaching bullshit about not keeping things from people like I don’t have a right to secrets in my private life and then you lie to my face about something I had a fucking right to know!”

“I was trying to protect you-“

“ _You had no right_ to keep that information from me! Would have I been angry at Barnes? Fuck yes I would have, but if you’d just fucking told me years ago then none of this would have happened! You keeping vital information to yourself is what caused all this shit in the first place, and Zemo knew it would blow up in our faces.”

“You would have tried to kill him if I’d told you! You did when you found out! I was right not to tell you, you would have just hunted him down!”

Tony throws up his hands. “It’s like talking to a wall. Rogers, can you think of _any kind of situation_ that is _worse_ than the one I found out in? I came to help, after you became a terrorist and got innocents killed because I found out about Zemo, information which you’ve had since before the airport. If you didn’t trust me enough, there was so many people you could have called to give them a heads up about the situation.”

“There wasn’t enough time-“

“You had time to get Lang from a different _time-zone_ and now you stand there telling me there wasn’t enough time? Go fuck yourself, Rogers. I came to you in good faith and then I saw that video of the person _not even five meters away from me_ brutally caving in my old man’s skull and crushing my mother’s throat. Any _rational_ human being would have reacted the same way I did, armed or not. Then you held me back, and I started to think a little. Then when I asked if you knew, you lied to my face with no remorse. Of course I flew off the fucking handrail and attacked!”

“I didn’t want for it to turn out like that.” Steve sets his jaw stubbornly.

“I didn’t either, but then you were both trying to kill me and I just wanted Barnes to _hurt_. You know I could have killed both of you any time, right? You’ve seen the shit I have stored in the suit. But I didn’t, because I just wanted to hurt Barnes for what he did.”

“You were trying to kill us! I was there, Stark, don’t try and change what happened.”

“I’m not the one in denial, Rogers! You went insane after I blew off his arm-“

“You destroyed his arm!” Rogers shouts, face red with anger as he steps closer, cornering Tony even more, snatching that one statement like a lifeline to defend his actions. Tony’s breathing picks up again and his heart is pounding at his ribcage so much he’s not actually sure which will give out first despite Extremis, his ribs or his heart. It’s so hard to breathe and his finite control on his panic is fraying alarmingly fast. Damn those who decided bringing back these guys was a good idea, they’d been nothing but problems since they came back.

“He was trying to pull out the reactor! What did you think I was going to do? Just let him?!”

“He was only disabling your suit! It wouldn’t have hurt you!”

Tony splutters, eyes widening incredulously. “Wouldn’t have hurt me? Did you forget I had that thing _inside my chest_ for _years_?! That it was the only thing keeping shrapnel from shredding my heart for a long ass time?”

“You got it taken out, Tony.” Rogers says like he’s talking to a particularly slow child.

Tony growls, gripping the closest thing to him (a shelf) like a lifeline to try and steady himself. “So what? I have PTSD, asshole. As much as I hate to admit it, I have it pretty bad. I’ve had it literally ripped from my chest after a betrayal by someone I thought I could trust and hey! Would you look at that? History repeats itself. Only this time, I had a means to prevent it from happening again. I was stressed and emotionally compromised, I wasn’t thinking rationally, and I was on the verge of breaking down. What do you honestly think I was going to do? Just let it happen? I had no way of knowing if either of you were going to kill me or not.”

Rogers scoffed, face contorted in anger, seemingly ignoring the last part of what he’d said. “Don’t lie to me, Stark. You seemed perfectly fine to me, other than trying to kill an innocent man.”

Rogers has backed him into… a wall? is it a wall? he’s not sure anymore, as far as possible now, chests nearly brushing, and Tony finds he physically cannot respond anymore. His brief moment of cognitive stability seems to have abruptly ended, and he can feel himself slipping away again, back into that state that he knows Rhodey hates him to be in.

It’s terrifying and comforting at the same time, which is only more terrifying because shutting down should in no way be a comforting situation to him, but it is, and the guilt eats at him because dammit! Rhodey hates not being able to do anything when he’s like this but, fuck, shutting down sounds kind of really nice right now, then he won’t have to deal with real life, especially when right now real life means Rogers.

Just when Rogers looks like he’s about to continue his rant into Tony’s silence, apparently interpreting it as a win, Tony’s long prayed for rescue finally arrives in the form of a potato to the back of Rogers’ head.

The blonde spins around, slipping into a fighting stance only to find Harley aiming his new and improved potato gun at him. He was still training so he wasn’t allowed to carry any proper weapons around the compound, but Harley being Harley, he quickly found the loophole that meant his potato gun could in fact be carried around anywhere he wanted because it wasn’t on the list of restricted or prohibited items.

No one had seen the need to correct the loophole and simply shrugged and turned a blind eye. The kid was turning nineteen- or was it twenty? soon and dear God, the day of fear was fast approaching when he could become a fully trained member of the Avengers like he was aspiring to be, as Tony’s protegee.

“Mr Rogers, back away from Doctor Stark right now or I will fire again.” The kid was saying. And wasn’t it hilarious? Tony thought hysterically from where his body was refusing to move. Harley was at least a head shorter or more than Rogers, about Tony’s height actually, threatening him with a bloody potato gun of all things.

Rogers straightened up, apparently dismissing Harley as the very real threat he was right now, in confusion. “What the hell, kid? Who are you?” He turned to Tony, frowning and speaking with reprimand abundant in his tone. “Tony, why have you got a kid here? What have you done?”

Tony still couldn’t respond, or move, and stared blankly at the blonde, which did not seem to make him happy.

“What the _hell_ is going on here?” Rhodey’s voice is the most beautiful thing Tony has ever heard and he turns his head towards where he’s walking through the door, looking tired but no less furious. Relief washes through Tony and he finally lets himself fall the rest of the way into the comfort of shutting out reality now that his Rhodey is here, who’ll keep him and Harley safe no matter what.

\---

Rhodey was so glad his session had gone better than expected, allowing him to leave earlier than intended, especially when upon turning his phone back on he had a frantic FRIDAY telling him Rogers had cornered Tony, but Wanda had destroyed a lot of her sensors the night before in a temper tantrum that they hadn’t had a chance to fix yet, meaning she couldn’t speak or see most of the room and it was purely chance they were in range of her few remaining visual, and one or two auditory sensors. The poor girl was scared and unsure what to do, not nearly as confident as JARVIS in making independent decisions yet.

Rhodey walked into the room just catching the tail end of Rogers’ tone and looking like he was gearing up for a second round, and seeing Harley with his potato gun and a shattered potato on the floor by Rogers’ feet. He had to suppress the urge to ruffle he kids hair and tell him he did a good job.

Unfortunately, it seems he was too late, one look at Tony and he could instantly tell his best friend wasn’t home.

“What the _hell_ is going on here?” He gives a very pointed glare at Rogers, then looks to Harley. The kid easily takes the hint, knowing he wasn’t in trouble despite how it might look to outsiders.

“I was coming into the common room to watch some TV when I heard yelling, so I went back to get my potato gun and Mr Rogers had Doctor Stark trapped against the wall and I could see he was… _distressed_ , so I intervened.” Normally Harley wasn’t so formal, and would happily call Tony by his preferred name or even join him in trying to come up with the most ridiculous and obnoxious nicknames possible, so the use of a formal title was very telling as to how much Harley understood the situation with Rogers. Hell, the kid had probably wheedled the details and videos out of FRIDAY.

“Alright, thanks Harley. Now I want you to please go and alert the Accords council as to this situation, as well as Danvers, she’ll need to be kept in the loop.” Harley looked at Rhodey for a long moment, then nodded and left after giving a quick look at Tony as if to make sure he was still relatively unharmed.

When Rhodey turns back, Rogers looks scandalized. “You aren’t even going to reprimand him? He attacked another member of the team! Rhodes, this is unacceptable behaviour and if this is how you act as a leader-“

“Yes, it is.” Rhodey agreed coolly, easily stopping Rogers in his tracks.

“Then why-“

“Because this situation you have created is unacceptable and I will not allow it to continue or be repeated.”

“ _I_ created?!” Rogers splutters. Tony still hasn’t moved, nor has the ‘nobody’s home’ look on his face shifted at all.

“Yes, you created. I will be alerting the Accords council of what has transpired and that effective immediately, you are no longer an active member of the Avengers pending permanent removal.”

Without another word, Rhodey strides forward and gently grips his best friend by the upper arm with his left hand and places a guiding hand on the opposite shoulder, walking them both out of the room, ignoring Rogers as he continues to try and speak with either of them. If the term ‘speak’ can even be applied here, what with Rogers starting into a good rant about pettiness and whatnot.

FRIDAY slams the door shut behind them in Rogers face.

“Don’t worry, Tones, it’ll be over for good this time, you’ll see.”

Rhodey hugs the shorter man to his side as they walk, feeling hands rise to cling to his shirt as they do so.


End file.
